 And now, tonight's presentation of Radio's outstanding theatre of thrills, Suspense. Tonight, we bring you the story of three convicts on a road gang in Florida who planned the perfect escape through the Everglades. We call it, Quiet Night. So now, starring Stacey Harris, here is tonight's suspense play, Quiet Night. We listen for it every night, right after lights out, and it'll be there. Passing over us, headed across Everglades, toward Miami. For a moment it was like having somebody come and see you on visitors day. Only when you're on a road gang, you don't get no visitors. 80 of us in that camp on the edge of the mangrove swamp. Every night, we'd quiet down and listen to that airplane. Wondering about the people up there, where they'd been, where they were going, and wishing we were going with them. Then it'd be gone. But I'd feel good just knowing other people had heard it. People across the swamp over in Lakeland. They'd hear it about six minutes after we did. George, up shore, wake up! George! Oh, mother. Honestly, George, if you're so all fired to sleep here, why don't you take your clothes off and go to bed? I can't yet. Have them checked the jail. It seems to me that'll be Bert's job. That's what a deputy's for, isn't it? Keep the sheriff from running himself to death? Who does his sheriff? Well, he wasn't your nephew, he'd starve to death. And with my hat, mother? George, you know what Dark Lang told you. You gotta start taking it easy. I will, I will. So long. George? Why? Remember how you used to kiss me whenever you left the house? Well, we were younger then, mother. People our age, don't we? Never mind. Go on. What's eating you, mother? Maybe it was here in the plane coming over from Havana. Remember when we took it home from our vacation? That was nine years ago. They'd have a new plane by now. We haven't had so much fun since. We ought to get away for a few days. Maybe go to St. Petersburg and just sit on a benches for a spell. We will, one of these days. One of these days. Well, if you're going to jail, hurry up about it so you can get home and get your rest. It took the plane less than four minutes to cover the twelve miles between the sheriff's farm and the parking lot next to the county courthouse. How's this stinking mosquitoes? Wanna put the wind up? No. No, it's too hot. But we ought to get out of here. Can't, honey. I'm on duty. I don't mean tonight. I mean, get away from Lakeland for good. Well, you figure not going. Oh, after Jacksonville over to New Orleans? Nah. Wouldn't work. Now, what makes you talk like that? You. Me? If you didn't settle down. I wouldn't do what your husband did, but I wouldn't stay around you for two seconds. Honey, I never loved Harry. And you shouldn't have married him. I had to. I hated my folks. Harry got me away from him. How old were you? Almost seventeen. Bert, I wrote Harry today. Oh? I told him I wanted a divorce so I could marry somebody else. You will marry me, won't you? I'd like to see somebody try to stop me. The night the plane didn't come over was the night that Harry showed fats in me the letter. We figured the plane was late, held back by the wind to something, so we waited. Listening. While we waited, Harry had me read his letter. You threw, Joe? Yeah. What'd you think? It's tough. Let me read it, Harry. Later fats. Listen to this, Joe. He's a wonderful man. I'm sure he'll treat me good. How do you like that? It's tough, Harry. Look, you'd beg, Harry. No woman can wait ten years. Why, you fuzzy little... Quiet, you guys. Listen. You hear it, Jeffers? I thought I did. I guess not. She sure turned out to be an ever-loving wife, didn't she? Makes me wonder if I did right, killing Red Simmons. Maybe it should have been her. But you could still do it, Harry. We get enough money, we're making a break. He got right to it. Fats, I told you before. Don't talk about it, huh? We'd sure surprise her. Any of you guys got the makings? Just don't forget where you got them, huh? Thanks. Hey, Harry. Yeah? You know that picture you got of her? You know the one where she's wearing shorts? Well, uh, I was just thinking, you don't want it no more now, why don't you give it to me, huh? Okay, Harry. What would you do with it, Fats? Oh, nothing. Just I ain't got no family, and I could sort of make like she's kinfolk. You know what I mean, Harry? I know what you mean. Well, no. Ah, you guys, you ain't got no feelings. Here's your tobacco, Joe. Thanks. That's okay, Jeffers. Joe, that plane never been late before. Not since I've been here. Man, I'm getting nervous. Where are you supposed it's at? Martha, why don't you turn that thing off? Do they know what went down yet? One of the CIA men spotted about 30 miles this side of Sabre Light right in the middle of that cypress swamp. How are you going to get to it? Well, look, the only way we can. George! Don't worry. Bert's going with me. We'll have plenty of help. From where? Who's going to help? We're taking four to five trustees from that road gang. They're closer to it than anybody else. They're going to help you walk, Joe? No, Martha. You know what Doc Lang said? You ought to exert yourself. I'll be all right. I swear I don't understand why it's your place to go at all. Martha, as long as I'm the sheriff of this county, it's my job. Well, you'll be back. I don't know how it pins and how long it takes us to get in there. There's Bert with the truck. Be careful, George. I will. Before we'd finished our grits, we'd heard what had happened on the plane. By 9.30 we were sitting in the back of the county sheriff's truck, bumping over an oyster shell road headed west toward the gulf. The sheriff and his deputy had picked Harry, Jeffers, Fats and me because we knew the swans and because we were trustees. After about half an hour they stopped the truck. We piled up. Man to sit on. All right, you man. All right, knock it off. The sheriff wants to say something. When we walk, and as fast as we can, when we reach the plane, we'll clear the trees and brush so a helicopter can get in to carry out the bodies. Any question? Sheriff, how far is that plane from here? About 10 miles southeast. Something bothering you, mister? Just thinking. 10 miles of swamp can be a long way. Sheriff, how do we go about finding it? The plane from Lakeland will drop a smoke part on it in about five hours. It'll burn long enough to guide us in. Anything else? What are we going to clear those trees out with? There's a cross cut and a hand saw and an axe in the truck. You want to say something, bud? Yeah. I'm not turning loose this shotgun at no time. First man even looks like he's thinking about a break, gets it right in the gut. All right, grab a saw. Hey, you, fat boy. Yes, sir? You told the axe. We're all some of that blubber. Yes, sir. A little rough on them, weren't you, bud? They are trustees. Maybe three of them. I ain't seen their records, but not Harry Brier. You know what he did. A lot of men might have done the same thing. We've never been in that kind of situation. Well, I'll tell you this. Road boss can call him a trustee all he wants. It ain't going to cut no ice with me. We started, then, single file for the sheriff leading and the deputy behind us. That would be crazy enough to run. Even if we did get clean away, where'd we go without money? We really moved along until we hit swamp. Then every step we took, our boots went in up to our ankles. Getting our feet free, out in front of us again with, like, walking up a hill. Joe. Yeah. Look at the sheriff. What about him? He's going to drop most any time. He's sick, Joe. Go on, sheriff. Drop. Drop, sheriff. Take a break, you may fall out. And your back's up against the street. Sheriff's got the deputy worried. Look how he's unloosening his collar for it. Yeah. And you guys hungry here? No. All right. I think I'll eat one of them sandwiches. Joe. Mm-hmm? You been thinking about that plane? No, I don't like to think about things like that. I just hope I can forget them. I've been thinking about it, Harry. You know, every night when he used to come over, I sort of imagined I was on it. And the stewardess was being nice to me, bringing me my food and all. Boy, she was sure pretty. I mean, at least I thought so. Shut up. Stop talking about it, will you? Joe, that plane was carrying lots of things besides people. Maybe. No. No, maybe. That was a big plane. Four motors. A plane like that carries mail, packages, sometimes real valuable stuff like money being shipped from one bank to another. Yeah, yeah, yeah, Harry. And what's been holding us up? Money. It's no good, Harry. You crazy? Why not? Are we going to keep the sheriff or the deputy from seeing us? They're four of us. They can't watch all of us at the same time. Come on, Joe. It's what we've been waiting for, ain't it? Tell them it's what we've been waiting for, Harry. He knows it. I don't need to tell him. Well, I guess we got nothing to lose. OK, Harry, OK. Knock it off. Come to the deputy. You, what's your name? Joseph McGuire. What are you doing? Eight to ten, armed robbery. Second offense. You? Henry Fatscarver. Offense. Oh, sir, it was a misunderstanding. I know you're innocent. Yes, sir. I'm sure glad... Never mind, never mind. All right. All right, I know you, Harry. You? Hmm? What's your name? Paul Jeffers, sir. Offense? Burglary. First offense. You think you can find your way back to the truck? Why, yes, sir. I think so. All right. Go on over to the sheriff. He's sick. You're taking him back. And don't you rush. Do it easy, yeah? Yes, sir. The rest of us are going on. Fats, you're going to lead. Oh, I know which way to go, sir. I got the compass now, I'll tell you. Joe, you follow Fats. And Harry, you and me will bring up the rear. We started again. And there are only four of us now. Fats, Harry, me and the deputy. Three of us against one of him. We didn't say anything we didn't need to. But we were waiting. Waiting for that one moment when he'd take his hands off that shotgun. Then it came. Okay. Okay, Fats, hold it up. Do you men see smoke rising off ahead? No. Not yet. Hey, Mr. Deputy, can somebody else carry this here, I ask? No. Joe. Sir, are you sure we're headed in the right direction? I'm sure. He's not so sure. Look at him, Joe. Yeah, I know. He's going to reach in his pocket for that compass. Fats. There he goes. Now, Fats, now! The gun, Harry, get the gun! Harry didn't need the shotgun. Fats had used the axe. I picked up the compass and we turned away to the southeast. Something bothering you, Joe? Huh? I don't know. I was just thinking. About what's at the plane? Oh, I was thinking about that deputy. Don't feel bad about him. He was itching to use this here shotgun on us. Yeah, that's right. I just don't know. You suppose he had a family? Him? Food married something like him. Hey, hey, hey. Hey, you guys! Hey! What's the matter? Look at it! What? It's smoke. Blank smoke. It's the plane! Come on! Come on, it's the plane! You are listening to Quiet Night, tonight's presentation in Radio's outstanding theatre of thrills, Suspense. For a good time tomorrow during the day, don't miss the goings on when it's Arthur Godfrey time. Remember every Monday through Friday you can join those gifted fund makers over most of these same stations. And now we bring back to our Hollywood soundstage Stacey Harris starring in tonight's production Quiet Night, a tale well calculated to keep you in suspense. We were heading for that thin stream of black smoke rising out of the swamp that marked the position of the fallen plane. Ahead of us in a straight line, about 200 yards long and 50 wide, the tops of the trees have been neatly sheared off for the wings. And then we saw it. Parts of the plane were scattered about in the mud as far as we could see. Things had burned, but nothing else. Cabin was in two sections, with a larger section dead ahead of us. We climbed up into it. Joe, you ever been in a plane like this? Once? Yeah, when? When I was trying to get out of the country. You know where they'd keep mail and stuff like that? I think so. I think it'd be up front, but where the pilot sits. Maybe in here somewhere, huh? Yeah, I think so. Let's take a look at it. I haven't seen anything this bad since the Navy. You and the Navy? For you. Just for you. It wouldn't take me. I got a bad knee. I tried to get in, but I'm kind of this bad knee of mine. Here it is, Harry. Come on, let's get it out of here. Come on, that's... Grab a hold of one of these here bags. Boy, this thing's... listen. It's a helicopter. Come on. What about this mail bag? Come on. Busy chopping on that tree. Oh, not yet. It's too thick. He's gonna have to get right over us. You think he's looking for that deputy? I hope not. No, but he can use that radio his. If he thinks something's wrong, they'll come after us before we get a chance to get out of the swamp. Harry, come again? He's planning on us making a clearing to Atenland. He's got a long way to go. Get out of that mail bag, Joe. 482. Not bad. Well, why don't we look in that other part? Maybe we'll find some more stuff. Maybe we've got about 1,500. That'll get us to Cuba. From there, we can work our way down to South America. When do you think we'll get there, Harry? A couple of weeks, fans. We can rent a boat in Lakeland. A friend of mine's got one. Now, that's providing we get across to Lakeland tonight. How far is Lakeland from here? 15, 20 miles. I'm tired. How come we gotta make it all in one night? Because that helicopter'll be back in the morning and when there's no place for him to land, he's gonna know what's happened. We better leave in about an hour. Hey, we got any more of them sounds you left? Nah, nothing. There's a hungry fat squinch. Take a look in the galley. You know what? The galley. Over there. A tail section. A stewardess usually keeps a food back in there. Okay, I'll go take a look. Cigarette, Joe? No. Tailor maid? I don't want one, Harry. Okay. Oh, here. Let me give you your share. You keep it. What? Keep it, I said. I don't want it. What's the matter with you? I don't know. I know I'm getting fed up with everything. Us, this place, fats, you, everything. Nah, you'll feel better when we get on that boat to Cuba. Hey! Hey, you guys! Now what? Yeah? Come here quick! What? What is it? Take a look from here. Look. Look at her. Let me see. These kids alive. You crazy. How could he be? I don't know, but look at him. Nah, he's probably so messed up inside, he won't live long. Well, you can't tell. Kids like this are strong. They take a lot of bonds back hard. What do you reckon we should do about him? Nothing. Just walk away from him, will you? Just forget he's here? What else can we do? You a doctor, am I? You don't look like he's hurt so bad he ain't bleeding. If we're going to get to Lakeland before morning, we can't fool around with him. Fats, make this rag outside. Dip it in some water, will you? So you put a cloth on his head. What are you, Joe? Some kind of healer? You got a magic cloth? Come on, Fats, do it, huh? Come on, Harry, help me straighten him out. Come on. Hand me that blanket behind you. Yo. I'm not leaving this kid, Harry. What? I told you how I felt about things before. I'm fed up. I would have gone, but not... Well, I can't now. But, Joe, you're the one that's been talking a ski. You stood by why we killed the deputy. All right. You watch. Now, all of a sudden, you get religion. Why? This kid, that's why. This kid dies. He'd be just the same as if he were with barrels of that shotgun right in his face and pulled a trigger. Now, how do you figure that? Because if that helicopter had a place to land, he'd be in a hospital by now. That's how. Hey, guys. The sun's starting to go down. Give me that rag. Hey, maybe I can help, Joe. Let me see... Get out of here, will you? Now, go on. Both of you, get out. I'll give you half an hour. Then you're coming with us. And, Joe... What is it? Don't you worry about it? That kid'll be dead by then. But the kid didn't die. And in a few minutes, his breathing came easier like he knew he wasn't alone anymore. I looked through his clothes for some kind of identification, but there wasn't any, not even his flight ticket stub or baggage check. He'd been traveling with somebody, his father or mother, or both. But he would live. Yeah. Yeah, I'd get him to a hospital in time. And someday... Well, someday he'd know what I'd done for him. It was a nice dream, and then a half hour was up. Joe! I'm over here, Harry. You notice this guy? He's clouding up. Yeah, I notice it's gonna rain. We're leaving, Joe. Well, go ahead. You're coming with us. We can't let you stay, Joe. They'll be here in the morning. You'll tell them where we've gone. Now, you know me better than that, Harry. Sure. Not even if they promise you a pardon. I'm not going with you, Harry. Now, you and Fats can... Where's Fats? Where is he, Harry? Fats! Fats! Fats! What did you do to the kid? Now, Joe, Joe, I didn't do nothing to him. Harry told me to, but I didn't. Don't hit me, Joe! Please! That's enough, Joe. Cut it out. You put him up to killing the kid, huh, Harry? It's for your own good, Joe. Far good. We gotta stick together. No. Not now. Not after this. You got a choice. I think so. Against this shotgun. It's clouding up outside, Harry. You can't make the Lakeland without stars. Or without a compass. Huh? Where's it at? What'd you do with it? Uh-uh. No soap, Harry. You want that compass? You give me the shotgun. You hid it while you were outside just now. That's right, Harry. Tie him up, Harry. We can make him tell us where it is. You want to try, Fat Boy? You go ahead. Well, go on. You got all night. No. You know we haven't. Okay, Joe. You win. Oh, Harry! Get up! All right, Harry. Break the shotgun. Come on. Give me the barrels and I'll go get you the compass. They left a few minutes later. I didn't bother to wish them luck because I knew it wouldn't do any good. I put another blanket over the boy and went outside. It was just beginning to rain when I picked up the axe and started chopping away at one of the giant cypress trees. It might take all night, but tomorrow that helicopter had a place to land. And I heard it. There was a ghost coming in from the gulf heading across Everglades toward Miami. People in Lakeland had to hear it about six minutes. Other people too, clear across the state, and it was gone. For a moment, it was a real quiet night. Only for a moment. Stacey Harris starred in tonight's presentation of Quiet Night. Listen again next week when we bring you another presentation of Radio's outstanding Theatre of Thrills. Suspense. Houston directed in Hollywood by Anthony Ellis. Tonight's script was written by Charles B. Smith. The music was composed by Lucian Morrowek and conducted by Wilbur Hatch. Featured in the cast were Helen Kleeb, Herb Butterfield, Charlotte Lawrence, Tony Barrett, William Forester, Joseph Kearns, Joe Duvall, and George Walsh. For dramatic excitement, don't miss the next explosive episode of the FBI in Peace and War. Tomorrow night over most of these same stations. Stay tuned for five minutes of CBS News to be followed on most of these stations by The Jack Carson Show. The workshop presents the new and unusual Friday nights on the CBS Radio Network.